For Amazon Prime customers (like me), Amazon has added another incentive to justify that recent fee increase. By adding a music streaming service, Amazon has also decided to wade into a growing field with plenty of competition. My RetailWire comment (below) speculates on whether this fast-growing industry is ripe for consolidation:
It’s hard to say whether Prime Music is meant to retain Prime customers (at the higher annual fee), or whether Amazon simply feels it needs to compete in this increasingly crowded and competitive space. After the Apple acquisition of Beats, it will be interesting to see whether other consolidation happens in the music-streaming business. Pandora or Spotify would be great takeover targets for a one-stop destination like Amazon.
Retailing In Focus 